Want to Impress With Your Resume? Here's What NOT to Do

If you want to impress with your resume, make sure you’re not doing these things.

On average, each corporate job opening attracts 250 resumes. Of those 250 applicants, only two percent of the of them will be granted an interview. As you can see, each of your job applications will face some pretty tough competition. You need a stellar resume if you want to get noticed.

While the resume is a comparatively brief document, it can be incredibly difficult to write. After all, you have to present your experience and skills in a page or two. You also have to make it both original and professional-looking. Accomplishing all of these goals at the same time is far from an easy task.

Remember that recruiters only spend six seconds looking at a resume. That’s how much time you’ll be given to plead your case and stand out from the crowd. If you want to make your resume shine, you simply can’t afford to make mistakes. Here are a few of the most important resume mistakes you’ll want to avoid if you want your job applications to be impressive.

Resume Mistake #1: Submitting incorrect information

When writing a resume, most people feel tempted to exaggerate things a little bit. This is never a good idea.

Submitting incorrect information may help you win that interview but it will lead to serious problems down the line. If you start the job, your supervisor will assess your skills pretty quickly and determine whether your resume has been falsified.

Don’t forget the fact that just about everything you say on your resume can be verified by a former employer. While most recruiters are not going to go through the process, an overly-exaggerated resume may trigger some suspicion.

It’s a better idea to stick to facts and include as much relevant information as possible. While it may seem somewhat unimpressive to you, the experience that you already have could potentially turn you into the best candidate for the position.

Resume Mistake #2: Not checking for grammar and spelling errors

What could be more indicative of sloppiness than leaving grammar errors, spelling errors, and typos in your resume? An employer will quickly pass the piece of paper through the shredder and never look back upon the discovery of such a mistake.

Recruiters confirm this is one of the most common and most annoying mistakes that they come across. In fact, the UK Recruitment and Employment Commission reports that half of all resumes come with such errors.

resume errors tell recruiters that you either didn’t take the time to look through the document again or you lack the skills necessary to carry out effective written communication.

Double-checking every single entry in your resume doesn’t require a lot of time. When editing, you shouldn’t rely solely on text processing software to pinpoint the mistakes. Often, these will remain undetected. Instead, go manually through each sentence. If necessary, let somebody else look at your resume prior to sending it.

Resume Mistake #3: Taking a one-size-fits-all approach

If you’re applying to multiple jobs at the same time, you may feel tempted to create a one-size-fits-all resume. While this approach may save you time, it is also more likely to land your job applications in the trash. Employers expect your resume to be tailored to their specific job opening. When you use a generic, one-size-fits-all resume, you’re leaving out essential details that are relevant to the specific position and necessary to help you avoid the job search black hole. Even if you’re applying to jobs within the same industry and niche, chances are, you can still tailor your resume.

Always take a close look at the job ad before submitting your job application. You may start with a generic document, but you’ll definitely need to modify it. Answer all the questions that a potential employer may have about your candidacy. Tweak your professional summary to highlight your relevant qualifications. The best way to stand out is to speak directly to the recruiter. If you’re trying to address many recruiters at the same time, you’ll most likely fail.

Resume Mistake #4: Not including relevant skills

We all know that a concise resume is the best one. Some people, however, will take it a step too far in an attempt to keep the document brief and focused. They’ll only list work experience without providing any relevant additional skills.

The skills section is the one that often gets abused in resumes. People include all kinds of information that may or may not be relevant to the respective position. The skills section, however, could contribute to the quality of the resume. Often, it helps recruiters decide between several qualified candidates who all have the necessary work experience.

This is the main reason why you should consider adding something to the skills section of the resume. Once again, the key is to make the information concise and focused. List skills that are relevant to the position that you have acquired at your previous places of employment. You may also consider adding an explanatory sentence or two about the relevance of each skill and how it makes you a better candidate for the position.

Resume Mistake #5: Focusing on heavy formatting

Playing with formatting options is so much fun that many people go overboard. They think that funky fonts, bullet points, and numbered lists will add to the overall value of the resume.

Good formatting should be all about increasing the readability of your resume. It has to be functional. A well-formatted resume enables a busy recruiter to go through the document quickly and identify the most important information in the blink of an eye.

While a generic, boring resume template isn’t necessarily the best pick, you should definitely refrain from going crazy with the formatting tools of your text processing program. Examine resume samples online to get a better idea about different styles. Choose the one you like the most and adhere to the stylistic idea without borrowing many other elements from alternative templates.

When writing a resume, you should focus primarily on your skills, who you are, and what makes you a good candidate. If you’re authentic, you pay attention to details, and you know how to write a strong professional summary, chances are that your resume will guarantee you the success that you deserve.